The issue is not whether we will do good on the Sabbath but whether we will keep it holy.

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Increasingly, people are interpreting Sabbath keeping to mean doing anything that is good. They use Mark 3:4 to affirm this perspective. Some also think that eating out on Sabbath is more in keeping with the spirit of the Sabbath than is serving a meal at home. Others say the essence of Sabbath keeping is not what you do but whom you do it for, inasmuch as the fourth commandment states that we shouldn't do our own pleasure. The issue in the fourth commandment lies in its first line: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." It means to be set apart, to be consecrated, to be hallowed. The Sabbath is set apart from the other days of the week. It has characteristics that the other six days do not and cannot have.